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DETERMINED to make its mark as the best grassroots club in the state, Wendouree is ready to bid for a third Victorian Twenty20 crown.
The Red Caps will host metropolitan candidate Bentleigh United in the Cricket Victoria Statewide Twenty20 final at Eastern Oval.
Red Caps captain Matt Smith said his team was representing Ballarat and the Central Highlands with pride.
"This is very important for the club in how it wants to be recognised as a leading club whenever people speak of Wendouree Cricket Club," Smith said.
"We urge as many supporters to come along and cheer us on, no matter where their colours may lie."
Smith said the Eastern Oval offered a home ground advantage in familiarity, reduced travel time and in drawing on plenty of hometown support.
The Statewide final is traditionally held at MCG, where the Red Caps won the title against Bentleigh United in 2012, but with the MCG unavailable during the ICC World Cup the final was forced to move elsewhere.
Smith is yet to taste playing in a final at the 'G - he featured in the Red Caps' first state Twenty20 win away from the MCG and missed the second final with injury.
He hoped the Red Caps would continue momentum for a returned to the game's hallowed turf but his focus was firmly on winning this season's bid first.
The Red Caps earned their statewide spot as last summer's Ballarat Cricket Association and Central Highlands Region Twenty20 premiers.
They advance to the finals this summer and have been in stellar form through the finals series.
Opening batsman Cole Roscholler is the Red Caps' premier batsman across all forms of the game.
Roscholler, the BCA's leading scorer in Melbourne Country Week, has a strike rate of 140 and an average of 32.33 in the statewide finals.
Big-hitting Andrew Pitson boasts the best strike rate (183) for the Red Caps' Twenty20 finals matches.
Sam Peeters and Brandon Weatherson have tallied seven wickets each but quick Jordan Oliver is the most economical with a bowling economy rate of 3.
AT A GLANCE
CRICKET VICTORIA STATEWIDE TWENTY20 FINAL
Wendouree v Bentleigh United
WHERE: Eastern Oval
WHEN: Sunday, 1pm
